


Bothersome boy

by ClaraCivry (Kat_Of_Dresden)



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Protective Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:35:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27765343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kat_Of_Dresden/pseuds/ClaraCivry
Summary: Three times Reginald hurt Five and one of the siblings helped and one time they were there before he got hurt.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Allison Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 288





	1. Allison

Sometimes dad was wrong.

A lot of times, actually, and it bothered Five. It bothered him more than he could say, but he was one of “the kids”, and nobody paid attention to him, even if he was right. Even if what he said made sense, even if he could make missions more safe for everyone, even if they would save time, even if he was right.

But the fact that nobody listened to him didn’t mean he would stop saying those things, because he felt the need to tell everyone, so they’d know, so they’d at least have the opportunity to listen, and change things...So he spoke, gave his opinion. Dad didn’t love when he contradicted him.

And with the others... He’d won over Luther and Allison with praises, kept Diego and Vanya in check with disappointment, and Klaus and Ben mostly just with fear for their own abilities. Dad knew which emotion to use with each one of them, to keep them subdued. But Five... He was getting harder to keep controlled, and becoming too smart for emotional manipulation.

So, sometimes dad decided to remind him who was bigger there, and who was small. Liked to remind him that he was a petulant child that nobody would take in. Liked to remind him that it was him who let him read all those books, use his powers freely. Anywhere else he would be probably locked up, silenced, maybe experimented on.

Five only had this house. And in that house dad ruled, and even if wasn’t elegant, and kind of a last resort... Sometimes Five needed to be shut up, and “roughing him up” was a temporary solution while while he came up a more permanent one to shut this wayward kid up, a way to keep him in line.

Allison had seen the bruises, the gashes. Sometimes Five left little blood droplets all over the library, and she felt compelled to say something, do something. She was supposed to be one of the kinder, warmer siblings, she tried to tell herself that she looked out for the others. That the things she did, she did to help. But with Five it was difficult, because he wouldn’t let himself be.... helped.

That’s how he ended up with those bruises and gashes, and how he managed to never be on the bad side of a rumour. Five was too smart for his own good, which was going to be a problem, Allison knew. Dad was going to decide that Five had to be handled in some other way, and maybe Allison herself would be involved in it, in the handling of Five. So yeah, maybe dad would give her a choice between rumouring him to be more obedient or having to see him be beaten more often, and more seriously.

She was fairly certain that Five would rather endure some wounds but have his will intact, but she... What would bother her more, having to watch his brother be beaten by the one person that was supposed to be protecting them or seeing him whole but knowing he only was like that because she had forced his hand?

Allison had tried talking to him, but hadn’t advanced much. She’d tell herself that it was not her fault, that Five was just defensive like that, simply not warm or close to them. But that was a lie. Five was very close to Vanya and Ben, and he was nice with them, as much as he was suspicious with her. He just didn’t trust her, and maybe with good reason.

When she saw his injuries, did she really care more about the fact that her brother was hurt or more about the fact that he’d dare disobey and dad was going to be pissed? Because yes, dad was wrong sometimes but most of them either didn’t notice it or didn’t want to correct him. But Five... Five was getting into trouble every week, and every week more.

Grace was trying to hide it, of course, because it was literally hard-wired into her, the pretending to be in a happy little family. And for that pretence to be acceptable, “roughed-up” kids were not allowed. There was make-up, ointments, and each and every possible way so no one else would see the damage.

But Five was good at hiding, and sometimes he hid from her too.

Allison found him one time, after a particularly vicious “gathering” with Reginald, with his face bloody, and his eyes, usually so full of arrogance and superiority, suddenly flooded with pain and misery.... He was about to blink away, she could tell, so she put her hands before her, and just said:

“I won’t.... No lectures, no rumouring, no dad. Just let me patch you up a bit, ok? So I can go to bed with a clear conscience later.” Facts faced clearly and in a logical manner, just like Five preferred. Because she knew how to deal with people without her rumours, too. They just helped.

Five didn’t say anything, but nodded, and waited while she gathered some first aid supplies.

It was curious, she thought, how Five was the one who could turn the quieter members of the family (mostly Vanya and Ben, but sometimes Klaus too) into chatterboxes, and he talked with them a lot as well... But when he thought someone would use his words against him, well, Five knew to keep quiet too.

It was all right. Sometimes being able to be in silence with someone was better than any words spoken. And Five had never been one for small talk.

Allison wanted to comfort Five, but... Sometimes he got in these moods, where every word uttered in his direction was taken as an attack. Maybe... maybe the best, kindest thing she could do for him was be in silence, not ask if it had been dad, not ask what had he done to provoke it, not even try and defend him.

Just... Let Five think, on his own, and know that he could trust her not to call someone else, to have his back. So that he knew that she was with him, too.

And there was a lot unsaid in that bandaging a hand, in that cleaning a gash, in those careful placing of band aids. They meant “you have me as well”, but also “I see you’re hurting, and I rather you weren’t” and “you’re not alone in this”.

Allison didn’t know what she was going to do about this, the same way Reginald was beginning to feel that Five bothered him a bit too much and didn’t know what to do about it, and Five didn’t exactly know how he was going to make the others see that dad was wrong and that they were more people...

None of them knew how things would come down, but...

They did know that they had the other, and that they knew about the uglier parts too.

Some days, that was all that they needed.


	2. Ben's moment

Ben Hargreeves didn't have an easy childhood.

None of them did, of course, but it was a tiny bit harder for him. Luther was strong, Diego had good aim, he.... he was interdimensional portal for some extraterrestrial tentacles of a good twenty times bigger than he was and with killer intent he often couldn't control.

They didn't get classes with other children, the usual socialisation and usual steps on life the other children did. Their lives revolved around training, and training revolved around their powers. For some, like Luther or Five, it was great. They enjoyed doing what they did, they loved getting better at it, and they got to feel like heroes. Sure, their lives were a bit... caged, but at least they spent their time doing something they loved.

But for others, like Klaus, and especially like Ben himself... All those hours were hell, were a nightmare. Ben hated what he became when he let in "the horror", absolutely hated the aftermath, and he hated seeing, feeling, even remembering what he was.

But what escape did he have? They hardly ever went out, they never were apart, and they were always wearing the uniform or the pyjamas with the damn logo on it, so Ben could never escape who he was, what he was.

Except for when he was reading, that is. If it hadn't been for books, Ben would have probably lost what little sanity he had, and wouldn't have been able to find the strength he needed to face his "inner visitors" and the things that Reginald ordered him to do. Awful things.

But when he was reading... When he was reading he could forget about the umbrella academy, about dad and the others and the training. When he was reading he could be a knight, or a rogue warrior about to topple an empire, or simply a young lady in victorian england not enjoying the choice of husband she was being offered.

Of course, there were no books like those in their library. Reginald only allowed them to have books that would be useful to them, classics, strategy books, tales and chronicles of war and battle. And that what the opposite of what Ben wanted, no, needed, absurd, soft, gentle escapism.

There was none of that the library, but thankfully, one of hi favourite siblings was a teleporter, and he had little issue (less and less with time) with breaking a few rules. So if Ben asked, or if he wanted something for himself, Five could simply teleport to a library or bookshop in the middle of the night, disable whatever security they had and get some books for the both of them.

That was the other thing, too, Five was one of the few people Ben could talk about books, about characters, about worlds. Although Five was more of a fan of non-fiction (so much stuff about physics why was a literal child so interested in physics), he aslo enjoyed some classic sci-fi and then commented who was the commander for the ship or which planet he would explore with Ben, making him feel a bit less alone, making him feel that he had someone with whom to share the good bits of his life too.

So yeah, Five was pretty important in Ben's life. He was smart, he got him books, and unlike Luther or Allison, he didn't side with dad when there were problems, but with them, the more "problematic" children, like Vanya who had no special abilities, like Klaus who cried after using his, like Ben who often refused to used his. And Five took their side, Five tried to find ways in which they didn't have to get hurt, often taking a lot of damage himself.

For how cold he was supposed to be, Five was really always there for them - for the things that mattered, at least. He knew that books mattered to Ben and got him books. He knew that the violin mattered to Vanya so he got sheet music, too. No matter what mean words he said.... Actions spoke louder, and were there for anyone who wanted to hear, to see.

But of course, Five was not supposed to indulge on Ben's "useless" reading, to get out in the world and steal things for them, just to make them feel better. And as time went by more and more tension was starting to make itself known in between their dad and the teleporter. Ben didn't want to think about it too much... But he knew it was going to explode. And he knew that Five wasn't going to just get away with it.

Still, one thing was knowing it, imagining it, being sure... And another, quite different, was seeing it. Like he was doing now.

Ben had heard a noise, a noise that sounded like his brother screaming in pain and without thinking, scared out of his mind, he opened the door to his dad's studio, and saw it. Something more horrible than anything that had ever come out of his belly.

It was Five, laying on the floor, bleeding and only half-conscious, trying to get away from their dad, but not being able to move properly. He had wounds everywhere, very fresh and painful looking, and....

Despite all the bullshit they had been through, despite their unusual upbringing and the very dangerous situations they found themselves in, Five was always confident, he was ready to deal with anything, he smiled and went against the enemy without fear in his eyes. Whenever Ben was afraid he just had to look at his brother to feel reassured. Five might have been small, but he was smart, and he was strong, and he was incredibly brave. You looked in his eyes and you saw power, you saw strength.

That was who Five was. Arrogant, scary, intelligent.

But now...

Now there was only pain in his eyes, misery and exhaustion and a tiny bit of fear.

Reginald was standing over him with some sort of electrical whip. He had mentioned that he was curious about the effects of electricity of Five's powers, but, this, this had no name.

And Ben was not a violent person.

Ben hated using his abilities, and hated the aftermath, hated all the violence and just having to hurt others. He had hated it so much, that he'd spent a good chunk of his childhood escaping from it.

And yet, this time, he didn't heasitate for a second using his tentacles to pin Reginald against the wall.

"If you hurt him again, I will come for you in the middle of the night and let the horror do what it wants with you."

Ben probably didn't mean that and wouldn't let that happen... But, damn, it did feel good to say. He threw his father to the other side of the study and went to his brother, tentacles retracted.

"Five?" His brother's big blue eyes were bright with pain and Ben just wanted to cry himself. "I'll take you to the infirmary, come on."

They went slowly, little by little, towards the infirmary. No one mentioned the fact that Ben had just attacked dad, or that surely there were going to be consequences. The "book club Hargreeves boys" just went slowly but surely, towards that robot they called mom and towards some care.

"You used.... it, to defend me." Five said later on the infirmary bed, after being bandaged, when Ben was helping him with some milk. "I know how much you hate it."

"I hate seeing you hurt even more. I had to."

Five half smiled.

"Thanks, Ben."

This was going to be a night full of nightmares, Ben knew, for the both of them. But maybe... Maybe before that, they could escape a bit.

"Tell me you finished the book of the Quantum team in Sloktia."

"I did - and that was, that was a fucking twist of an ending!"

"I know, right?"

That's it, escape.

Don't think of how you were late to help your brother and now he's covered in wounds.

Don't think of the repercussions this might have.

Don't think of all the times you won't be there for him.

Escape.

And get your brother out with you, any time you can.


	3. Leader's conundrum

Luther was in front of the room where dad was going to punish Five for not following the rules.

Usually, he had no issue with that. To work properly there had to be an order, a hierarchy, and dad was on the top of it. He had his reason for doing what he did and in the way he did, and it was up to them to be good kids and good operatives (soldiers) and follow those orders. And he was dad's number one, it was up to him that the orders were passed out and followed.

He was the next step in the chain of command, and he felt that it was an honor, being the first of the kids, being the leader. His role was important, for the whole family, for the umbrella academy, for the world. He was honoured and proud of being a leader.

But. When one is a leader one has a responsibility, not just to your superiors, but to those under you as well. A good leader looks after his subjects, makes sure that their needs are met, encourages and supports them so that they will perform in their best of their capacities. He takes care of his team. That's a good leader.

Usually, Luther was under the impression that dad worked like that, too. That his orders and his plans were with their best interests at heart, even if sometimes they couldn't see it. Even if sometimes they didn't get how it benefited them - but it did, because dad cared about them. He did. So he had no problem telling the orders to do what dad said. But that day....

If Five hadn't disobeyed rules who knew what may have happened to Ben, to Allison. They had been in a very tricky spot, and it was because Five had teleported them out, even if he was supposed to stay put and continue to be with the thieves, that they hadn't been shot at. So yeah, he'd disobeyed the rules the rules and had done something he wasn't supposed to - but he had good reason.

And Luther may not be the smartest of them all, but the notion that had put that plan in motion to see the limits of their powers even when their lives were in danger... Well, it wasn't that far-fetched. And one or more of his siblings could have been seriously hurt. As a leader, that would have been on him, too.

So Luther didn't know what to do.

He was dad's Number One, and as such, he had to trust him and believe that this was should be done, let dad do whatever. But as a leader of the siblings... Five had been in the right, and he didn't deserve to punished. Good leaders thank their workers when they have a good idea that will help the team. Five should be being thanked, he'd done something heroic to ensure the safety of two of them. A good leader gives credit and uses good ideas.

And now, just waiting outside the door and letting Five be punished, he wasn't being a good leader. Or a good brother.

Not that he'd ever been much of a brother to Five - he pissed him off, had no care for authority, always thought he knew more than everyone, than he was better. Even if he was just number Five. Which was wrong, there was a system, and it was their job to follow...

But this time, the system had been wrong. Dad putting them in danger to see the limits of their power was cruel and wrong and deserved no punishment.

He heard a noise from the other side of the room.

It was Five and he was hurting.

No.

Luther opened the door, even if he was never supposed to go in there when it was closed, much less when dad was punishing somebody.

This was difficult for him. He'd never faced dad, not really, not... fully. He was a good soldier.

But now, seeing Five fighting tears, obviously in pain after being done who knew what...

"Leave him."

Reginald couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. Honestly, neither could Five.

"Number one, what...?"

"Leave Five alone." this was actually hurting Luther, but he had to. "He did nothing wrong."

"Are you saying I was wrong, Number one?"

There was a tense silence in the room. Luther looked at Five's eyes, and then thought of the the fear in Ben's and Allison's eyes when they were in the mission. Thought of the consequences that it could have had, thought of his own fear and powerlessness as he followed orders that made no sense, order that hurt, orders that made everything worse.

A good leader is self-aware, doesn't think he's always in the right. A good leader admits mistakes. A good leader has integrity, and the needs and bests interests of his team at heart.

"Yes, you were. You were wrong."

It didn't help much, Luther's attempt at integrity and standing up for what was right despite his fierce need for approval. Five was punished anyways, and himself as well, something that he really wasn't used to being. Life continued as usual, the world didn't change, their family didn't change all that much.

Luther had just tried, but then was refused and punished. It didn't look like much, just going into a room and asking, to be let go - but Five knew his brother, and he understood how much it had to had cost Luther to simply come in the room, tell dad to stop, tell dad that he was wrong. A small gesture, but with a lot of meaning.

So, the next morning, when they went to have breakfast....

It was just a nod. A nod from Five on Luther's direction, not something big either, but something that meant a lot.

It meant "I appreciate the effort", it meant "I recognise what you did for me", it meant "thank you".

And Luther didn't know what this meant for him as leader, as number one... But as a brother, it actually felt good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Luther's like the least likeable Hargreeves, but it can be fun (and kind of interesting) to get into his head. 
> 
> Only one chapter left!


	4. On time, this time

Shit.

Reginald (and not their usual Reginald, either, but a Reginald that saw them as anomalies that had tresspassed their homes) had told him to come for a chat, and offered some scotch, and Five had accepted. He knew that if they wanted to fix the mess, he, and maybe one of several of the Sparrows were a possible way of getting help.

More than any other random human, anyways.

And knowing his siblings excessive level of emotions with the man and also lack of diplomacy sometimes, he decided to go, try and be civil. Maybe offer to help too, so they could get some help in return.

But of course, things couldn't be that easy.

Of course that after being beaten up, buried under a wall and shot down, now he had to be drugged with scotch. Just his luck.

And Reginald was not a kind man, knew everything about his abilities and had probably spent the last sixty or so years planning what he would if he got a chance to use those abilities. Possibly nothing good, maybe something that would rid him of the other, more useless umbrellas.

First, though, he would gladly conduct some experiments on him, to see what made him tick, to see how could he replicate what he could do, or maybe control it, so he could use it to his advantage, or transfer it maybe, to one of his "kids". The new ones.

And Five had been on the bad end's of Reginald's experiments before, and it was an experience that he'd had the hopes of never having to go through again. But what could he do?

He was too woozy to blink out of there, too drugged to even scream out for help properly. Fuck. He was one the hands of a maniac, again, and this time....

There was a commotion on the door, and they moved their eyes to find the big, elegant wooden door of the office being broken down by a very big dude, a smaller dude with knives and a couple of angry ladies. Also, Klaus. All of them standing them, looking quite pissed.

"Five? Are you all right?" Allison asked, getting closer.

Five just shook his head, looked at the glass.

Diego practically growled. Vanya started shining in a dangerous way.

"Luther, Klaus, take Five, get him somplace where he can rest. He doesn't need to see this."

And so Luther to him in his arms, which was a good thing since Five was practically passed out on his feet now, the effect of the drugs amplified by the fact that he hadn't eaten or slept in properly in days. Huh.

Well, this was a pleasant new development, his siblings actually stepping up before the worse part even happened? His siblings coming to his recue? Yes, please, more, thank you.

There was a explosion in the background, and Five wanted to be worried, but he was too woozy. Also Luther's arms and chest were very comfortable, and it was getting harder and harder not to simply let the darkness win, go to sleep and rest - specially knowing that he wasn't going to be the victim of some horrible experiments. Now that, even when the explosions and sounds of fighting in the background, he felt safe.

"It's okay, Five," Klaus' voice was saying. "You can rest your weary troubled head now, we'll be safe. We got it - we'll make it."

Five managed to draw a lazy little smile at Klaus despite the fog in his head and decided that, yeah, maybe this one time he would forget about dad and all the dangers he posed for him and the others, and just would let them handle it.

It had been a very long day, at the end of a very long week and dealing with that again would have been a bit too much. No.

"You get some rest now," Luther said "you're more important than dad and his new kids and whatever he's up to. We'll keep you safe from him. You don't have to worry."

Maybe it was naive to think that they would ever be safe from that man, and dangerous to stop worrying even for an evening. But his siblings had come for him, saved him from the big old man and were not telling him that they would protect him.

Five wanted to believe that they could, and that they would.

He closed his eyes.

Reginald could go to hell, he was taking a nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I can finish stories as well as start them! 
> 
> Hope you liked this little thing, just some more siblings looking after Five. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> You know you want to comment :)


End file.
